–Thriller
Performed by Michael Jackson and Vincent Price
Written by Rod Temperton

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It ranks right up there with Christmas as far as extensive and exhaustive preparations go. I love making costumes, although they always take way longer than I think they will. Some years I start early, and other years I decide I'm not going to make anything but end up rushing at the last minute to make something wonderful. No matter when I start, though, I usually have to pull an all-nighter to finish.

This year LadyBug is all about the capes. She wanted to be a vampire {just your everyday ordinary kind of vampire and not the sparkly kind} and since I have about a billion other things going on, I took her shopping and bought an inexpensive black cape. And of course, as I ironed it out, I thought to myself, why didn't I just make one?

I'm going as Hermoine Granger. I don't know what I did with my time turner. If I could find it, I would use it to go back and make LadyBug's cape. And then I'd use it to have a long, long nap. I was up until the week hours of the morning getting the Halloween Chili ready and putting together a Camp Jupiter t-shirt for Grasshopper. When will I ever learn?

In honor of the day, I've put together a little virtual trick-or-treating. Click on one or all and enjoy!

A Ghostly Phenomenon
I don't really buy into the paranormal. But hey, it's Halloween, right? So I thought I'd share this car advertisement from somewhere. When they finished filming, the ad the people who made it noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. About halfway through, you will see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road accompanied by an eerie sound that you can barely hear. You have to have the sound turned up to hear it. It is really faint but when the car rounds the second corner and looks like it's going through trees is when it starts.

The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon. ..... Spooky!

Heads Will Roll Michael Jackson's Thriller debuted at special theatrical screening in Los Angeles in 1983. It was shown in the theater before the re-release of Fantasia in order to qualify for an Academy Award and most people left after the video. I remember when it was first shown on MTV. It always has been and always will be one of my all-time favorite songs. The rap was written by Rod Temperton in a taxi cab on the way to the recording studio. He wrote three verses, but only the first and third were included in the song, which was voiced over by Vincent Price. I love this fun Mash-up of Thriller and Heads Will Roll performed in the first season of Glee.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we do not have a paid clergy. Members are asked to help with everything from building clean-up to giving sermons {or we call them talks} on Sunday. A few Sundays ago, a member of my ward {LDS-speak for congregation} shared this meme in her talk.

When you live your life for your Self first, and think of Others and then the Savior, you will always be asking for help—S.O.S.

But when you make Jesus the center of your life and put Others before Yourself, you will find JOY.

Elder M. Russell Ballard gave this counsel recently to members of our Church and I think that applies to people everywhere. He said: In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen. If you do this, your spiritual sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities to serve that you never before realized were possible.

President Thomas S. Monson has taught that in many instances Heavenly Father answers another person’s prayers through us—through you and me—through our kind words and deeds, through our simple acts of service and love.

And President Spencer W. Kimball said: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other.”

When I think of service I often think of big things. I was listening to this song recently and one of the lines really stood out to me: it may not be at the battle's front my Lord will have need of me. It kind of drove home the point that every act of service, even a small, unnoticed kindness is accepted by the Lord.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Some days are hopscotch kind of days. Some days are waiting to get nailed at dodge ball kind of days. –Unknown

*tap* *tap* *tap* Hello? Is this thing on? *tap* *tap*

It's been a slow month for blogging. There just never seems to be enough time to fit everything in. My sewing time is not what it used to be. Work just gets in the way too much . And I feel like I'm moving in slow motion all the time. Since I don't have much time for sewing, I don't have much to blog about on that subject. But it's not that I don't have anything to blog about. I write blog posts in my head all the time while I'm drying my hair in the morning or cleaning raw chicken for dinner. I scribble down notes on the backs of envelopes and in the thirty-seven notebooks that I rotate in and out of being lost and hope that is enough to jog the prose out of my memory when I actually do get to the blog. It's kind of a catch-22, though, because if I blog, then I don't get to sew, which means I have less to blog about. In the few precious hours I have between the time the kids go to bed {which is often interrupted by them getting back out of bed for a drink or something to eat or to tell me they can't sleep or to use the bathroom — when will they grow out of that? They never seem to think I mean it when I tell them good night and that I don't want to see them again until the morning} and the choice is blogging, folding laundry and sewing, I most often choose sewing. Although folded socks and undies is also a priority.

And for all those blog posts I've written in my head over the past few weeks, tonight's post is about nothing in particular. It's Friday night in Zoobie-ville. If you're not from around these parts, BYU students are sometimes referred to as Zoo-bies. Provo and its surrounding areas are known as Zoobie-ville. I left work pretty late tonight; later than usual. I usually drive home through one of the neighborhoods in the heart of Zoobie-ville. Traffic is minimal and there is only one stop sign along my route, until I get to the highway that leads home. But tonight I needed to go to the bank and the only open branch was two blocks from campus, so I took the main road through town, University Avenue, to get there. I was surprised by the traffic. There were lots of cars out and in those cars were couples; people out with their best guy or best girl. It brought a smile to my face, because I loved Friday nights when I was in college. It was so fun, after a week of work and classes, to go out with the girls for bowling or to a football or basketball game, or to go on a date with my best guy.

Right now, my best guy is sleeping. He'll get up for work in a few minutes and then I'll go to bed. It's not date night for me.

But I do want to show you something that I've been keeping a secret for what seems like years. You might remember that I belong to a really great quilting group. We met on-line and most of us live scattered across the US. Our pattern designer extraordinaire, Cat, lives in Australia. She had her second baby at the end of June, and because we're quilters, we made her a quilt. When Cat had her first baby, we did a chicken themed quilt because she loves chickens. This time we decided to do a quilt based on the Snugglepot and Cuddlepie series of books by May Gibbs.

The quilt is finished and finally made its way to Cat and her sweet little guy {who is now 4 months old} in Australia, so I can finally let you see my block. I've been dying to show you since April.

When we make a quilt we all throw ideas out and then we sign up for the block or blocks we want to do. I love to do needle-turn appliqué, so I thought it would be fun to do the little Gumnut Babies, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. I have never seen the books, so I used an image I found on-line for my pattern. Everything is needle-turn with a bit of embroidery for the details. I did a satin stitch for the pupils and the white reflection on the eyes and also for the mouths. I used backstitch for the noses, eyelashes and around the chins for definition.

I'm going to wait on showing you the whole quilt {and the amazing quilting job Angie, our quilter extraordinaire, did on it} because we haven't posted it on our Twi-Quilters blog yet, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend the few minutes that are left of my Friday night sewing.

Friday, October 19, 2012

“Twilight again,” he murmured. “Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.” –Edward Cullen, Twilight, page 495

I belong to this really awesome on-line quilting group. We met through the TwilightMOMS forums and live scattered across the US. We even have a member {and pattern designer extraordinaire} in Australia. We're a little nutty in our obsession with a series of books about sparkly teenage vampires, and the crazy is translated with fabric and thread into quilts. We call ourselves the Twi-Quilters.

Over the last four years, we've created four Twilight themed quilts. We gave our first one to Stephenie Meyer, the author of our favorite books, and we auctioned off the other three and donated the proceeds to two different charities.

The final movie in the Twilight franchise, Breaking Dawn, part 2 is set to be released in just under a month. In conjunction with this culminating event, we are pleased to announce the Twilight Saga Charity Quilt. Here's just a teaser ...

The quilt will also include one embroidered quote and five blocks from each of the books, depicting our favorite moments in the Twilight series. Watch for more about this quilt coming soon.

As always, our goal is to raise money for a worthy cause. We're donating our time and materials and for every $5 donation you make to our charity, you'll get one chance to win the quilt. We've chosen George Mark Children's Hospital to receive your contributions. Details on donations will be announced soon.

In the meantime, here's a little something to tide you over. I mean, is there such a thing as too much Twilight?

Thursday, October 4, 20128:13 am
It's been a busy week at work, made even busier by the fact that I'm taking tomorrow off. We're going to Zion National Park. I have to say, upfront, that I'm an indoors kind of girl. But I'm really looking forward to this. Because our trip falls at a very busy time at work, I had to push my first-of-the-month tasks back a day earlier in order to make this work. This included working last Saturday, which meant I didn't get my regular Saturday chores done. I only did the essentials. I could have used that time to prepare for the trip this weekend, because there hasn't been a spare minute this week to even think of it. Until last night at midnight that is, when I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep.

Sometimes I come up with some really brilliant stuff while I'm supposed to be sleeping but can't. Other times, it's a little bit of madness. Last night I decided that we should have family pictures taken while we are in Zion's. Mr. Bug's youngest brother and his wife dabble around in photography. We were going to have them do family photos a couple of months ago, but Mr. Bug's work schedule wasn't cooperating and we had to cancel. They're going to be at Zion's. We're going to be at Zion's. There won't be any competing work schedules. Why not?

Well, for starters, I'm not sure what LadyBug and Grasshopper will wear. I have a pretty good idea for Mr. Bug and me, but not the Little Bugs. I'd need to go shopping for them. And it would have to be a miracle shopping trip, indeed, where the perfect outfits are hanging on mannequins just inside the front door of the first store I go into, because today is another long work day; perhaps the longest work day of the week, in order to get everything tied up so that I can be absent tomorrow. Aside from the outfits, LadyBug and Grasshopper both need haircuts and I need a touch-up. I've got quite a bit of silver showing at the roots. I wonder if I could pass it off as hair bling and start a new fashion trend? Perhaps not. In any case, I can do our hair. If there were enough time. But what I really wish was that my sister could come down and do all three of us.

It is probably a little unrealistic to try to squeeze in all the prep this would take. Perhaps it would be better to do it a different weekend, when I have more time to get us pulled together.

Right now, I need to get to work. Sigh. I miss my stay-at-home-mom days.

--

Friday, October 5, 20128:31 am
The occasion for our trip to Zion's is Mr. Bug's annual family reunion. I'm always a little anxious to get together with his side of the family. There are some very strong personalities; too many Chieftainesses among the sisters and sisters-in-law trying to lead the tribe {and it's catching on with some of the older grand-daughters} and the men are just content to . . . well, they're just content. Getting a group of 50 {two parents, eight children, eight spouses, and thirty-two grandchildren} to all go in the same direction is pretty much impossible. There have been some squabbles and some hurt feelings. I guess that's what family is, but it takes me a few minutes to relax once we get there. After I've had a few minutes to settle in, I always have a great time and I always feel bad that I did not enthusiastically return the warm greetings we received when we got there. My goal today is to let all my stress go in the car on the way so that I can hit the ground running.

Yesterday was a long and stressful day at work. It was apparent, after I arrived and spent an hour helping someone else with their workload before my own because no one else had the time to train them, that trying to squeeze in the necessary prep for formal family photos was not going to contribute to my overall happiness and that finding another time soon to do them was in the best interest of my mental well-being. I have to go back to work today for a couple of hours. My goal is to get done only the essentials. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something "urgent" doesn't come up while I'm there because I know I'll have to take care of it. We still have to pack, so I really do need to get in and out quickly.

We really are a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants operation around here .

We'll pick the Little Bugs up from school and head out. It's a little under four hours, so barring any dawdling {which we are excellent at} we should get there about 7:00 tonight.

--

4:23 pm
We dawdled. We're finally on the road.

--

4:25 pm
False start. We have to stop and get gas.

--

4:32 pm
OK. Now we're on the way. Zion Park ETA: 8:30 pm

--

9:05 pm
We're here and we're settled in. We're staying just outside of Zion's, near Navajo Lake and Brian Head. One of Mr. Bug's brothers found a lodge that we could rent out in its entirety. There are six rooms each with a double or queen bed and private bathroom, and three sets of suites with a varying number of beds and sleeper couches and each with a bathroom. There is also a large common area and a nice kitchen. 49 of the 50 of us are here, which is amazing. The beds have been supplemented with cots and air mattresses. Some of the kids are sleeping on the floor, but I think we're all comfortable enough. It beats camping by a long shot.

Mr. Bug & I, along with his youngest brother and his wife {the aforementioned photographers} are in charge of breakfast for 49 tomorrow. We're doing French Toast Casserole, so it is time to put that together.

--

Saturday, October 67:46 am
My head hurts, in that old familiar left-side-only way. Seriously? Can I play the it-is-so-not-fair-that-I-have-a-migraine-today card? I've been looking forward to this trip for a while, and I'd planned to take advantage of the outdoors experience. We're hiking The Narrows today. I don't want my day spoiled. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.

--

9:45 am
Breakfast was a big success.

My head still hurts. I'm still ignoring it, but I think hiking The Narrows is out. A smaller group is going on an easier/shorter hike to Cascade Falls, and I'm going to play it safe.

--

11:10 am
I'm really glad we're staying in a lodge. With beds. And flushing toilets. I've never been a big fan of camping. It's not like I just don't like the idea of camping. I've been {at least once every summer between the ages of 12 and 18 and in the winter a couple of times too} and I actually don't like it. My quarrels with camping are several, the first of which is the lack of indoor plumbing, and the second of which is a lack of indoors. I have allergies, so I'm either stuffy or sneezy or runny. But I think the biggest deterrent for me is the location of the required amount of Nature to make a successful camping trip. The roads to get there are bumpy and winding and usually on an incline. I get motion sick. There wasn't much I could do about it on those camping trips as a teen, except for grin and bear the ride up the canyon. Now, it helps when I can drive, but I still usually arrive feeling queasy and uneasy. I think I equate that unpleasant feeling with camping.

Having said that, I can not deny how beautiful it is here. We're trundling down a dirt road that cuts through a large, green meadow ringed by quakies and pine trees. The colors are amazing.

LadyBug just asked when we were going to get the trail head. It seems that life is mostly about the "hurry up and get there." But the answer came to me that today it's not about getting there. Today is about enjoying the ride. That seemed to satisfy both of us.

--

12:00 pm
We made it to the falls. It not so much a waterfall as it is a trickle down an incline of mossy rocks. But the trail was easy and the scenery and view are amazing.

One of the things I love best about Mr. Bug is his sense of humor. A short way in along the trail, there was a lookout with two benches. They were woven like chain-link, but made of a sturdier metal. The end of one of them was seriously bent out of shape towards the ground. Someone wondered if a tree had fallen on it. Mr. Bug was certain that it was a bear. One of his greatest {irrational} fears is that we'll all be eaten by bears. I laughed a lot at the commentary he provided for the bear who bent the bench . . . those humans make such puny furniture. Ah well. I'll sit here anyway.

It might be funnier if you were there.

The lookout from the trail head is to Zion Park. The elevation here is 10,000± ft above sea level.

I cobbled together a panoramic view. It is so beautiful.

--

1:00 pm
We're back from the hike. I can't ignore the headache anymore. I'm checking out for the afternoon.

--

6:00 pm
I'm slightly annoyed that I don't have anything more interesting to talk about than my head. Nothing is helping. I'm going back to ignoring it.

--

9:46 pm
Dinner was excellent. There are several different board and card games going on, lots of great conversation and fun cousin interaction. This is my favorite part of getting together.

--

Sunday, October 7, 20129:55 am
When Mr. Bug and I are away from the everyday drone we make an invincible team. Life is somehow easier and we're more in sync. It has been a really relaxing time but now we're packed and ready to go home. I really did not get my fill and we're going to plan something similar soon. Perhaps Yellowstone next. If I can convince Mr. Bug the bears aren't going to eat us.

Everyone is supposed to be on the back porch in 5 minutes for a group photo. It will take at least 30 minutes to get organized.

10:45 am

Four people in attendance missed the photo shoot {and one didn't make it on the trip}, so here are 45 of us. What a handsome group! And three more babies are due between January and May!

11:07 am
We've made our goodbyes and we're headed home now. T-minus 4 hours and counting. Hopefully it will be a quiet, uneventful trip.

1:15 pm
LadyBug is carsick. She timed it nicely with the appearance of a road stop.

3:07 pm
We've been off the twisty, winding roads for two hours now. Maybe she's not carsick. Maybe she has the flu. No rest stop this time. 25 miles 'til home.

6:00 pm
Home again.
The laundry is underway.
We get to sleep in our own beds tonight.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The most important thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.–Maya Angelou

A huge thank you to everyone who linked up in September with a finish! I find that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything, and so I apologize for not having visited you all, yet again. Please don't feel too badly about it, though. I didn't even go see the curtains my sister made and linked up, so nobody was left out. While I was busy not visiting your links, I finished two quilts this month, a pinwheel sampler a long time in the making and a baby quilt for the same sister whose curtain post I ignored.

I'm excited to announce September's winner, drawn by LadyBug. As always, I wish I had a little something for everyone who linked up, but this month, number 17 was the winner.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.–Earl Nightingale

Welcome to the October Finishes Linky Party! It is always so fun to see how much amazing creativity there is out there! Thank you to everyone who participated last month and for your continued participation this month! Anything finished between 12:00 am on October 1st and 11:59 pm on October 31st{in your time zone} can be added to this linky party. The linky party will be open all month, so you can link up as you finish your projects. You have through noon {MST} on October 1st to post about it and link up.

To participate in this month's linky party:
• Finish a project {finished as in done, finito, nothing more to add, ready to use/display/give away} with some sort of stitching in it and blog about it or post a photo of it on Flickr.
• Scroll down to see what other bloggers are up to and link to your own finishes.
• Please include the October button in your blog post. Copy the code in the text box below and paste it somewhere in your post. The button is a link back here, so that other bloggers can find their way over and link up too.

• Each time you link up a finished project, you're entered to win the October giveaway, a charm pack of Amy Butler Spots!

• Thank you to The Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring our giveaway!

The Fine Print {which might be boring but you really should read}:
• Projects must include stitching of some sort. For example: appliqué, crochet, cross-stitch, embroidery, knitting, practical sewing {garment construction, bags, curtains, etc.}, quilting.
• Projects must be completely finished. As in done, finito, nothing more to add, ready to use/display/give away.
• You can pick something new to do, but projects do not have to be started during the month. If you pick up a UFO, Ph.D, WIP and finish it during the month, it counts.
• Finishes must be completed during this month, but you have until noon MST on the 1st of the next month to link your post.
• Post about your finish and then link your specific post{instructions here} above. Links to your blog and not the individual post about your finished project will be deleted.
• Have more than one finish this month? Great! Post about each finish individually and then link the specific posts up separately. Each finish, and therefore each link you add, counts as one entry for this month's giveaway.
• If you've already posted about a finish for this month, there's no need to do a separate post. Just add the button to that post and link up.
• Please copy and paste the code below to include this month's button somewhere in your post {not your sidebar}.

• Don't have a blog? You can link from your flickr account. Just post a picture, include a little note about your finish and a link back here {code included below} in the description. Then join the linky party.

• Make sure to visit a few of the other links and leave them some love {ie, a comment}. A good rule of thumb is to visit two links for every one you include.
• Winner of the sponsored giveaway will be drawn randomly from among the links and announced by 8:00 pm MST on the 3rd of the following month.
• Instructions for making an index page to your finishes can be found here.
• Kindly consider changing your comment settings to the pop-up window option for faster and easier commenting for visitors to your blog. Instructions can be found here.